


Lunar Castebooks Retrospective

by Tikor



Category: Exalted
Genre: Gen, Lunars, Roleplaying Character, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-25
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-27 22:49:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 2,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14435823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tikor/pseuds/Tikor
Summary: A look back at the completed Lunar Castebooks fan project.





	1. The Fire at the Center of the World

The forest canopy swayed from a night wind, but down on the forest floor no air moved. Three Lunars sat across the fire from one another. One, a whiskered crone, looked between her two companions for their reaction. Another, dressed in merchant’s finery, human in all but his flickering shadow, contemplated the recent news, eyes unfocused in thought, brows furrowed. The last leaned into the fire, muscled form taut, dark eyes drinking in the light, fangs flashing as he asked, “How can we be sure Daring Swords has not been tricked?”

The Marked Wolf laughed. “He has been fooling the Fae for centuries. A few Dragons will not be able to hoodwink him.”

The merchant-prince said, “It is the stars that we should worry about.”

The Marked Wolf scoffed. “You’ll drive yourself mad trying to outguess them. That we know means Nara-O does not. But, some god of secrets must, and we should assume they will know soon if they do not already.”

Magnificent Jaguar looked to the west. “It will mean abandoning the Caul. Probably leading a diversion, showing weakness to entice their movement. Sha’a Oka will not be pleased to lose the hold he has there.”

Tamuz corrected the warrior, “The Caul, and every satrapy. We’ll burn every tribe we have, and if we commit ourselves to the objective, we won’t be there to lead them.”

The Marked Wolf snapped her fingers. “Do not forget the prize. The fire at the center of the world! I’ve heard you both say you’d pay as much, and more.”

Tamuz winced. “An age ago. When I was young and brash.”

The Marked Wolf sat back and crossed her arms. “I’ll make this simple for you. I’ll be pulling the Swords of Luna behind Daring Swords’ plan. He has the blood-debts to call them all anyway, I’ll just be adding my blessing. You can either deal with the madness that will reign out here, or you can fight with us on the Blessed Isle, surrounded by allies.”

“And enemies,” Tamuz interjected.

“I’m with you.” Magnificent Jaguar stood and looked to Tamuz as he said, “Convince this old dog yourself. I must leave to prepare.” Then the warrior prowled off into his jungle. 

The Marked Wolf walked around the fire and put her arm over Tamuz. “It’s a gamble, I know it. But so is every day to survive. I cannot let my friend take his chance alone.”

Tamuz did not look at her, staring instead into the fire. “The timing is too right. Just as the Solars return, just as the Scarlet Empress disappears, Daring Swords finally completes his centuries-long quest? There are too many variables. Too many actors; a tangle of agendas!”

“What are you saying, old friend?”

“I’m saying that I will not follow you.”

The Marked Wolf retreated, looking again at the merchant-prince to see how he had changed.

“But, I will utterly rout the legion encamped at Chiaroscuro, and from the shadows. That will make them commit even more to the other uprisings, with the sting of failure so fresh. I’ll be overrun, of course, when the other legions arrive. You will have a few weeks where the empire can think of nothing else. I can do that, at least.”

The Marked Wolf chewed her lip and nodded her head. “That will have to be enough. I’ll tell the others.”

The Marked Wolf began to craft a messenger infallible in the weave of Essence. Tamuz did not stay to watch her sorcery. He faded into the forest air, on a breeze none could feel, to lead his people to ruin.


	2. The Sack of Chiaroscuro

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A great city falls as a great Exalted walks away from the wreckage.

A hooded figure walked the subterranean tunnels of Chiaroscuro alone with sure steps. Above, a battle raged; dust fell from the ceilings of the tunnels when battering rams struck the gates. Every gate on the land-sides of the city at once. The defenders could not hope to repel them. 

After a bend in his path, the hooded figure met a bent, diminutive woman leaning on a cane. She was shaking, and the closer the hooded figure came, the more he guessed it to be rage. Grandmother Bright accosted the lone figure. "Tamuz! You will not leave Chiaroscuro when she needs you most!"

Tamuz paused in his escape, and lowered his hood. "I will and I must, spirit. You have gained from my presence so long that you take it for granted.” He paused, but kept his eyes on the small spirit. “Everything changes."

"You brought this war here! You told them they would win their freedom!"

"And like children they believed me. The first rebel against an Empire is always crushed. Only later may freedom be won, when the heavy arms of a great nation are tired."

"You lied to them!" Grandmother Bright burst into radiance haloed around her small frame, lighting up the cavern. 

Tamuz remained resolute. "You cannot see outside these city bounds, spirit. There are greater games in motion. I must play them."

"You will address me as your rightful god, worthy of the worship you've given in the past! Or, Luna's Chosen or no, I will smite you!"

"Even now at the height of your power, bolstered by the fevered prayers of your people, you cannot hope to overcome me, spirit."

"Address me by my name and title, Grandmother Bright, City-God of Broken Glass, Mother to Chiaroscuro!"

"Taste the wind, and you will remember your manners."

The spirit in turn kept her eyes on Tamuz as she clasped raw air in her hand and licked her fingers. The taste of Essence brought a change in her, kept her from glowing so brightly, from shouting so loudly. "My, my little Tamuz. When did you grow so?"

"In human time, that is when."

Grandmother Bright whispered, "And, what need have you for learning the true death of spirits?"

"The need to keep ghosts from rising again. If you let me go, that will be all I need it for today."

The spirit and the Lunar stared at each other for some time. Tamuz let the god deliberate as she needed. He was in no direct danger, with feet of earth between him and the soon to be sacked city. 

"My advise is to meet with the invading general. He may spare portions of the city you hold dearest if you negotiate a surrender. Like the Plaza."

Grandmother Bright shed some few tears of rainbowed glass. As they thudded into the solid earthen floor, she nodded, and vanished, in the way of spirits. Tamuz walked to where the tears had fallen, knelt, and picked them up. "I lament this, too, Mother to Chiaroscuro."

Tamuz pocketed the tears, raised his hood once more, and continued on his way out of the city. Above him boomed the assault of the Realm, unceasing in its cadence, inescapable, sounding from every direction.


	3. Ten Stripes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Links to Ten Stripes' mentions within the Changing Moon Castebook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Through Luna’s Grace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12548736/chapters/28578788)   
>  [The Trials We Face](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12555716/chapters/28594420)   
>  [Our World, Our Territory](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12700677/chapters/28960896)   
>  [The Songs They Sing of Us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12815268/chapters/29260005)   
>  [Signature Characters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12949239/chapters/29609559)   
> 

Ten Stripes is a character that takes you from the fantastical sexism in Creation’s West and shows her struggle to overcome it with Luna’s blessing, before we broaden the story to the more female-empowered rest of Creation. Elsewhere in Creation, women tend to rule, with the very prominent examples of Merela and the Scarlet Empress coming to anyone’s mind. 

She was not the first character written - that distinction goes to the Marked Wolf, whose Oral History was written way before we committed to Lunar Castebooks. About mid-way, this strong voice came about, and also happened to be a low-Essence Changing Moon, that fit as an opener a little better than a bordello scene. 

Reading the second edition parts about Simenare inspired her struggle with the spirit world that has imposed the consequences of her youthful poverty and disempowerment. She literally fights the system of the Terrestrial Bureaucracy. But as so often happens with the Exalted, winning a battle and truly getting your way are two different things. Ten Stripes is early on in her education on wielding power, having come off of a failure where she was perceived as a tyrant and changed too fast for the people she chose to rule. But even in defeat she shows wisdom on how to reclaim her seat of privilege. 

I didn’t go so far or deep into the history of Simenare, the different peoples such as the Immaculate Philosophy followers or the Lintha descendants. Just some common Westerners were enough to hit her themes, and keep the story focused on her. Plus, that’s already written up well in Lunars 2e.


	4. Seven Devils Clever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Links to Seven Devils Clever's mentions within the Changing Moon Castebook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Through Luna’s Grace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12548736/chapters/28579284)   
>  [The Trials We Face](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12555716/chapters/28594516)   
>  [Our World, Our Territory](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12700677/chapters/28961067)   
>  [The Songs They Sing of Us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12815268/chapters/29298828)   
>  [Signature Characters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12949239/chapters/29698998)   
> 

I was worried about putting a bordello scene at the start of the first Castebook. So, while Changing Moon was coming together, I switched the order of Ten Stripes and Seven Devils Clever. Also, I know that in 3e they call her Seven Devil Clever, but the singular rubs me the wrong way, since there are presumably seven of them? Like, if she’s so smart, seven devils smart, surely the plurality is meant?


	5. Red Jaws

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Links to Red Jaws' mentions within the Changing Moon Castebook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Through Luna’s Grace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12548736/chapters/28579988)   
>  [The Trials We Face](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12555716/chapters/28594616)   
>  [Our World, Our Territory](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12700677/chapters/28962771)   
>  [The Songs They Sing of Us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12815268/chapters/29408754)   
>  [Signature Characters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12949239/chapters/29720799)   
> 

For me, Red Jaws isn’t about the killing he does on the hunt, but to whom he brings back the meat. That sense of providing, of protecting, of _husbanding_ , is what I hoped to convey with Red Jaws. Re-reading, I think I hit it.


	6. Song Sparrow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Links to Song Sparrow's mentions within the Changing Moon Castebook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Through Luna’s Grace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12548736/chapters/28580648)   
>  [The Trials We Face](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12555716/chapters/28595976)   
>  [Our World, Our Territory](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12700677/chapters/28964772)   
>  [The Songs They Sing of Us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12815268/chapters/29453175)   
>  [Signature Characters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12949239/chapters/29722908)   
> 

Depicting a war between Lunars and Sidereals poses a challenge of perspective in Castebooks. All the Lunars that speak need to be alive, so mortal combat between them must end in the Lunar winning, which saps the tension in the telling. Instead, here in Song Sparrow, and later in The Marked Wolf, I elude to many Lunar deaths at Sidereal hands. With Song Sparrow herself, I also wanted to explore her abnormally early choosing and her resulting asexuality/aromantic outlook on life, as an outcaste not from only her upbringing, but also the world of romance everyone else seems to be wrapped up on from time to time.


	7. Lilith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Links to Lilith's mentions within the Changing Moon Castebook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Through Luna’s Grace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12548736/chapters/28581592)   
>  [The Trials We Face](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12555716/chapters/28952472)   
>  [Our World, Our Territory](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12700677/chapters/28964889)   
>  [The Songs They Sing of Us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12815268/chapters/29461749)   
>  [Oral History](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12905508)   
>  [Signature Characters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12949239/chapters/29845875)   
> 

I told BurrSquee when we first started co-writing that Lilith would be her character - that I couldn’t do Lilith justice. I feel like she did. I’m just responsible for editing, ideas bouncing, and the fight scene in the Oral History.


	8. Tamuz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Links to Tamuz' mentions within the Changing Moon Castebook and this retrospective.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Return of the Kha-Khan](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12525268/chapters/28521488)   
>  [Through Luna’s Grace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12548736/chapters/28583092)   
>  [The Trials We Face](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12555716/chapters/28953366)   
>  [Our World, Our Territory](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12700677/chapters/28965213)   
>  [The Songs They Sing of Us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12815268/chapters/29462031)   
>  [Signature Characters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12949239/chapters/29896353)   
>  [The Fire at the Center of the World](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14435823/chapters/33342429)   
>  [The Sack of Chiaroscuro](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14435823/chapters/33342507)   
> 

Unwilling to fully commit. As watchful of his friends and allies as his enemies. It is Half Moons like Tamuz, ready and willing to change with the winds, that I imagine caused the Unconquered Sun to exact the Solar Bond concession from Luna during the Primordial War. His hunch of betrayal among the shapeshifting spies of the war effort did not expand to include his perfect children, or the Akuma among them. I find that a fitting blind spot of the Unconquered Sun.


	9. Strength of Many

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Links to Strength of Many's mentions within the Full Moon Castebook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Through Luna’s Grace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13069548/chapters/29897739)   
>  [The Trials We Face](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13185126/chapters/30158886)   
>  [Our World, Our Territory](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13360728/chapters/30594267)   
>  [The Songs They Sing of Us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13480920/chapters/30910323)   
>  [Signature Characters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13588863/chapters/31378896)   
> 

I kept Strength of Many’s opposition to slavery, but I wrote into his story a personal connection to it, as well as a viable alternative to a society built around owning people - that is the tribal life on the plains he heard his elders speak of before the trader arrived.


	10. Thorn Sun and Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Links to Thorn Sun and Moon's mentions within the Full Moon Castebook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Through Luna’s Grace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13069548/chapters/29899983)   
>  [The Trials We Face](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13185126/chapters/30337620)   
>  [Our World, Our Territory](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13360728/chapters/30594483)   
>  [The Songs They Sing of Us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13480920/chapters/309498183)   
>  [Signature Characters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13588863/chapters/31505016)   
> 

Thorn Sun and Moon is just about as close to being original as possible while still being canon, having only one mention in a notable entry at the end of Castebook: Eclipse. I enjoyed writing him as an outlaw that close contact with a Lawgiver has somewhat tamed.


	11. Bulb of the Perfected Lotus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Links to Bulb of the Perfected Lotus' mentions within the Full Moon Castebook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Perfected Moonlit Lotus](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13069113/chapters/29896629)   
>  [Through Luna’s Grace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13069548/chapters/29922117)   
>  [The Trials We Face](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13185126/chapters/30383019)   
>  [Our World, Our Territory](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13360728/chapters/30594642)   
>  [The Songs They Sing of Us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13480920/chapters/30972717)   
>  [Signature Characters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13588863/chapters/31509951)   
> 

I enjoy Bulb of the Perfected Lotus’ themes of motherhood and loyalty.


	12. Kajeha Lef

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Links to Kajeha Lef's mentions within the Full Moon Castebook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Through Luna’s Grace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13069548/chapters/29922249)   
>  [The Trials We Face](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13185126/chapters/30423924)   
>  [Our World, Our Territory](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13360728/chapters/30788424)   
>  [The Songs They Sing of Us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13480920/chapters/30987879)   
>  [Signature Characters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13588863/chapters/31554018)   
> 

Kajeha Lef was an abandoned character, until BurrSquee went back to save her. I may have been too picky about the story having multiple dimensions. I’ll let BurrSquee tell you if I was or not. Eventually, at BurrSquee’s insistence in keeping the character, aided by some shower-notes, I suggested we add more to her story in the form of protecting Luna’s domain, and meeting and rejecting each Lunar faction (lacking these threads led me to initially abandon Kajeha Lef as one-dimensionally Luna’s wife - no character deserves that).


	13. Magnificent Jaguar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Links to Magnificent Jaguar's mentions within the Full Moon Castebook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Through Luna’s Grace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13069548/chapters/29922495)   
>  [The Trials We Face](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13185126/chapters/30528264)   
>  [Our World, Our Territory](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13360728/chapters/30814110)   
>  [The Songs They Sing of Us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13480920/chapters/31014186)   
>  [Signature Characters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13588863/chapters/31577196)   
> 

Magnificent Jaguar - or Mag Jag as we’d call him - got to be the celebrity Exalted young Celestials often were in the First Age. I worried when writing that his life course and the tragedies within would cleave too closely to Leviathan, but afterwards I see that even though they had similar reactions, Mag Jag eventually changed and returned to the world, while Leviathan has calcified in his rejection of the world. This difference was enough to justify the two elders separately.


	14. Leviathan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Links to Leviathan's mentions within the Full Moon Castebook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Through Luna’s Grace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13069548/chapters/29932674)   
>  [The Trials We Face](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13185126/chapters/30593892)   
>  [Our World, Our Territory](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13360728/chapters/30845088)   
>  [The Songs They Sing of Us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13480920/chapters/31126818)   
>  [Our Oral History](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13564431)   
>  [Signature Characters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13588863/chapters/31600125)   
> 

Leviathan is aloof as unto a god in the Second Age of Man, so to get his story I went back in time, to before Leviathan was so mighty, and had Swims in Shadows tell it. I think this gave Leviathan the proper distance.


	15. Po

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Links to Po's mentions within the No Moon Castebook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Through Luna’s Grace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13762032/chapters/31632405)   
>  [The Trials We Face](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13812456/chapters/31761657)   
>  [Our World, Our Territory](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13829841/chapters/31835121)   
>  [The Songs They Sing of Us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13901226/chapters/31990521)   
>  [Signature Characters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13996455/chapters/32285829)   
> 

Just a character prompt from me, BurrSquee ran with it.


	16. Tikor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Links to Tikor's mentions within the No Moon Castebook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Through Luna’s Grace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13762032/chapters/31632552)   
>  [The Trials We Face](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13812456/chapters/31772001)   
>  [Our World, Our Territory](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13829841/chapters/31836387)   
>  [The Songs They Sing of Us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13901226/chapters/31998357)   
>  [Signature Characters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13996455/chapters/32312214)   
> 

Not a very well hidden self-insert…

But, I got to writing Tikor saying ‘I’ll change the name later’ until he was mentioned so many places and had gotten so wrapped up in my persona that I decided to just keep it. I share Tikor’s Exalted politics, impossible though they might be, and a black lab would be a fair reflection of my personality.


	17. Raksi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Links to Raksi's mentions within the No Moon Castebook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Through Luna’s Grace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13762032/chapters/31632774)   
>  [The Trials We Face](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13812456/chapters/31778316)   
>  [Our World, Our Territory](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13829841/chapters/31948794)   
>  [The Songs They Sing of Us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13901226/chapters/32018808)   
>  [Signature Characters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13996455/chapters/32380362)   
> 

Cersei Lannister was my goal with Raksi. To write someone who is both clearly mad, and who also clearly thinks they are making sense with their bloody actions.


	18. The Marked Wolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Links to The Marked Wolf's mentions within the No Moon Castebook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Long Before the Wolf](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13759032/chapters/31620552)   
>  [Through Luna’s Grace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13762032/chapters/31727760)   
>  [The Trials We Face](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13812456/chapters/31788879)   
>  [Our World, Our Territory](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13829841/chapters/31973400)   
>  [The Songs They Sing of Us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13901226/chapters/32043954)   
>  [Our Oral History](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13922658)   
>  [Signature Characters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13996455/chapters/32394468)   
>  [The Fire at the Center of the World](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14435823/chapters/33342429)   
> 

I just love the Marked Wolf, as you might be able to tell from her getting _both_ the intro fiction and the Oral History fiction. She is everything I’d like to have out of a Lunar elder, a love for the Oral History, an inclination to raise pups, a cause that she has dedicated herself to, a past where her fearlessness got her fur singed, and surviving long enough to reminisce about it all.


	19. Faithful Pia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Links to Faithful Pia's mentions within the Casteless Castebook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Searching for Illumination](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14079078/chapters/32436651)   
>  [Through Luna’s Grace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14131302/chapters/32587047)   
>  [The Trials We Face](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14161752/chapters/32642181)   
>  [Our World, Our Territory](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14250165/chapters/32862519)   
>  [The Songs They Sing of Us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14282166/chapters/32945280)   
>  [Signature Characters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14327271/chapters/33061644)   
> 

Not knowing who to trust, having people compete for your loyalty, when you can’t even trust yourself, that feeling of being lost - I wanted to weave these into Faithful Pia’s tale.

I chose to omit the rape of the source material to keep her more light-hearted. She has enough tragedy in her past… and her future.


	20. Madame Vert

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Links to Madame Vert's mentions within the Casteless Castebook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Through Luna’s Grace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14131302/chapters/32587569)   
>  [The Trials We Face](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14161752/chapters/32657865)   
>  [Our World, Our Territory](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14250165/chapters/32862582)   
>  [The Songs They Sing of Us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14282166/chapters/32948124)   
>  [Signature Characters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14327271/chapters/33107025)   
> 

Abandoned by me, again. Saved by BurrSquee, again. This was probably the toughest of the characters for her to pick up, what with both Thaumaturgy and Sorcery being prominent elements of Madame Vert's story.


	21. Echinna

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Links to Echinna's mentions within the Casteless Castebook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Through Luna’s Grace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14131302/chapters/32624037)   
>  [The Trials We Face](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14161752/chapters/32702088)   
>  [Our World, Our Territory](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14250165/chapters/32925342)   
>  [The Songs They Sing of Us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14282166/chapters/32966502)   
>  [Signature Characters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14327271/chapters/33130737)   
> 

Like Thorn Sun and Moon, Echinna has the barest mention in canon, less than a page in Lunars 2e, though she is at least the main character there and has a writeup. I wanted to convey what it would be like to be locked away in the Wyld for a few hundred years, the loneliness and despair when nothing you talk to is real, and when your own form is slowly eroding.


	22. The Chimera

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Links to The Chimera's mentions within the Casteless Castebook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Through Luna’s Grace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14131302/chapters/32641854)   
>  [The Trials We Face](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14161752/chapters/32747229)   
>  [Our World, Our Territory](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14250165/chapters/32925414)   
>  [The Songs They Sing of Us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14282166/chapters/32966547)   
>  [Signature Characters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14327271/chapters/33341961)   
> 

I know I’ve heard rumors of Chimerism not being a thing in 3e. Well, tough, because I find them to be fun antagonists, and a Lunar specific ‘gone too far’ consequence of fluid identity. I wanted to include one, and here it is. Also, I enjoyed writing mostly present tense for the Chimera, since it has no sense of past and future any longer.


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